Razor



June 28, 1932. T, H FROST 1,864,995

RAZOR Filed March l0. 1931 ATTY.

nieuwe Jupe" 1932.

Lerares u- NllrsnjsfrATEs PA'rsN't OFI-lcs THOIAS Il. FMSILOF BOSTON,MASSACHSETTS Appuoauon meanmn 1o, 1931. semi m. salata This inventionrelates tosafety razors of the type in which a thin flexible blade ismaintained-and supported in shaving position bya holderA In safetyrazors as heretofore constructed, a blade has beeniemployed which givessatisfactory service for a comparatively few number of shaves withoutresharpening and, consequently, it has been the practice to provide aholder comprising several parts which may be readily assembled anddisassembled for the removal and replacement of the blade. I havediscovered, however, that a blade of a nitridable ferrous alloy, such,for example, as nitralloy, may be produced with an edge of such hardnessand keenness that it may be used without apparent deterioration of theedge for a la ge number of shaves, sometimes as many as one hundred.Such a blade and a method of making the same is disclosed in my pendingapplication, Serial No. 455,366,i1ed May 24, 1930.

The present invention consists in an improved safety razor employing ablade of permanent or semi-permanent sharpness of the character abovereferred to. Since it is no longernecessaryto disassemble the razorfrequently, it is now possible for the first time to provide a safetyrazor of permanent construction wherein the blade is maintained at alltimes in the most favorable shape and with the most favorable edgeexposure for shaving.` Variations in the behavior of the razor are thusavoided andthe user is provided with anAinstrument-upon which he candepend for the same uniformly good results day in and day out.

One manner of accomplishing these re-- sults is to embed the blade in anintegral holder molded of suitable plastic material, such as athermosetting resin composition. The blade may be accurately andpositively shaped in the mold and then surrounded except at its cuttingedge by the plastic material by which it is maintained' permanently inthe desired shape. The edges of the hold' er may be accurately molded toact as guards for the cutting edge with exactly thedesired amountofvedge exposure and the blade,being bonded to the plastic material, hasa metallic terial, it 'woul 'k reinforcement therefor so that the comleted article is of durable construction. hile I prefer to em loyaholder of plastic mabe within the scope of my invention to make use'of aholder assembled of parts more or less permanently secured together andin such a construction I may employ either plastic material or metal.

The features ard advantages of my invention will be best understood andappreciated from the following description ofa preferred embodimentthereof, selected. for purposes of illustration and shown in theaccompanying drawing, in which;

. Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of the complete razor; 'l

Fig. 2 is a viewin perspective, on an enestl larged scale, showing therazor with portions brokenaway;

Fig. 3 is a view in transverse cross section on the lineB--S of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, but illustrating a modifiedconstruction in whichv the handle is detachably securedl to the body orcap portion of the'holder;

Figs. 5 and 6 are views similar to Fig. 4, but illustrating .other waysof detachably connecting the body and handle;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view of the mold with the blade in place. 4

The razor herein shown comprises an integral body of plastic materialmolded upon a thin flexible blade 16, herein shown as sharpened at bothedges and provided with a series of centrally-disposed apertures 18, oneof which is shown in Fig'. 2. The blade 16 is of nitralloy or othernitridable ferrous alloy. This blade may' be nitrided only in areaswhich include the cutting edge of the blade, and if the body` ofthe-blade is unnitrided it will not be of the extreme hardness whichcharacterizes the nitrided portions thereof. The blade as a whole is ofAuniform thickness'throughout and is flexible 10, and a guard portion12, the cap and guard portions of the holder being integrally united atopposite ends of the blade and alsol at the intermediate apertures 18 ofthe blade by the lastic material which, as will be understood, ows inthe mold to create an integral onepiece body. As shown in Fi 1, 2 and 3,a handle 14 is inte ally an permanently united to the cap or ody portion10. 0

The guard portion 12 is rovided with ard teeth along its longitu lnaledges and 1n the mold the spaces between these teeth may be occupied byblade-locating elements which positively support the blade in atransversely-curved condition. In formlng the razor, the material inplastic or fluid condltion may be forced into the mold, passlng throughthe a ertures 18 in the blade and about both en rial in settin maintainsthe blade permanently in tlgie condition inwhich it has been originallyassembled and, on the other hand, it becomes bonded to the surfaces ofthe blade so that the blade acts as a reinforcing member for the entirestructure.

O-ne suitable form of mold is partially shown in Fig. 7, it beingunderstood that two complemental mold sections 30 are employed which'are provided with perforated flanges 34 for'clampin bolts, not shown,and an air vent 36. The lade 16 is ositioned in the mold, as alreadexplained, y spaced lugs 32 which en age th a lon s oulder which enga esthe upper face t ereof and determines t eedge of the ca lV'hile in itssimplest embodiment the in vention provides a unitary one-piece razor,certain of its advantages are also inherent in `a construction in whichthe tachably secured to the body referring to Fig. 4, theY body portion10u is substantially identical with the body portion 10 above described,being provided in the same way with the blade and guard portions, but inthis case is furnished jwith a screwthreaded projection 19 adapted tohave screwthreaded engagement with a socket 20 in the end of a handlemember 14. This handle member may be of any desired shape or materialand as it is removable, the razor maybe packed for shipment to somewhatgreater ad.

vantage than the arrangement shown in Figs. 1 to 3, inclusive; Moreover,by providing a detachable handle, the user -with'the head portion onlyas a re' placement part, the handle being useful successively withsubstantially any number of heads. i

Ordinarily, the moldable material employed in making the head willretain the screw threads throughout the life of the blade, but as shownin Fig. 5, I may, if desired, embed a metallic stud 21 in the materialof the head 10b during molding, such s thereof. The plastic mate' eunder side of the blade and handle is de-A portion. Thus,

'thermosetting it is possible to furn1sh It may be noted that whenhthedetachablel handle is employed, the principal advantagesl of theinvention are sti retained, since the permanent relationship of (theblade to the guard members of thehead, and the permanent adjustment ofthe curvature of the blade are not affected. Thus, the blade ispresented to the user in the very bestpossible shape and condition foruse, as determined by the manufacturer.

Not only does y improved razor possess the "advantages a ove noted, butby reason of the fact that nitrided ferrous alloys are highly rustresistant, the exposed edge portion of the blade is not likely to rustduring use, and even if the body of the blade is not nitrided and thusnot rust resistant, it is so completely encased and protected by thebody of the holder that prevented. e

I claim: 1. A safety razor comprising an integral rust is substantiallybody portion of thermosetting plastic material molded upon a thinfiexible blade,

holding the blade intransversely curved position and being itselfreinforced by the blade.

2. A safety razor comprising integrally connected cap and guard.portions bonded to the opposite sides of a blade of thin steel andmaintaining the blade permanently stressed in -a lcondition ofpronounced transverse curvature. Y

3. A safety razor comprising cap and guard portions ofthermosettingplastic material molded upon the o posite faces of a perforated steelblade and) being integrally connected to each other through theperforations of the `vblade and bonded to the blade adjacent to itscutting edges.

4. A safety razor comprising a body of A lastic material molded upon athin steel bla e sharpened at its opposite edges,the molded bodyterminating short of said blade edges so as to expose them for cutting.f f

5. A safety razor comprisin va thin permanently curved blade embed ed inva body of moldable material except at the edge of the blade which isexposed and sharpened for cutting.

6. A safety razor comprising a blade having a sharpened and nitridededge with its body portion embedded and permanently retaiilied in aholder of molded plastic materia 7 A safety razor comprising a headportion having a thin permanently curved blade embedded therein, one atleast of the blade being exposed and arpened for cuttin and a handledetachably secured to Sai llad'f h d d 8. sa et razor comprising a ea ana handle, a b ade rmanently embedded in the material of t e head w1th atleast one edge of the blade exposed, said e sed edge belng sharpenedlfor cutting an having a lo hardness approximating that4 of nitridedsteel, the handle and head havin com lemental engaging portions-adaptedetachaly to hold them in assembled relation. r

Signed by me at Boston, Maachusetls, 15 this 19th day of Februar 1931.

THO S H. FROST.

